


Fit for Slaughter

by evilwriter37



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Blood, Dragon death, F/M, Fighting, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III Affected by Deathgripper Venom, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Whump, venom - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-15
Updated: 2019-11-15
Packaged: 2021-01-31 05:28:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21440968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evilwriter37/pseuds/evilwriter37
Summary: While out exploring with Toothless, Hiccup encounters a Deathgripper
Relationships: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III/Astrid Hofferson
Comments: 13
Kudos: 78





	Fit for Slaughter

**Author's Note:**

> Blame the HTTYD mobile game, Titan Uprising, for this one-shot.

Hiccup had an open wound in his right arm. He’d tried not to hurt the dragon, but he’d slashed out his sword in a futile attempt to strike it when it had done the same to him. The wound wasn’t very big - a scratch in his arm - but it hurt like all hel. The dragon had been afraid, and Hiccup had decided not to approach it, but the dragon had in fact decided to approach him.

He’d never seen a dragon like it before. It had pincers as its forelegs, strong, sharp teeth, yellow eyes, and a long stinger protruding from its tail. The stinger was what it had gotten Hiccup with, and he’d expected to feel the instant effects of some sort of venom, but there was nothing. Just the scratch. The dragon had run off after Toothless had fired a warning shot.

“This is what I get for exploring on my own,” Hiccup said. Toothless made a sound at him as if in agreement, though Hiccup knew that he liked their solo expeditions together. He just didn’t like when they put Hiccup in danger.

“Oh well. At least it’s just a scratch.” Hiccup had torn a piece off the blanket he’d had in his saddlebag and had wrapped it around his arm as a makeshift bandage. He moved it aside, taking a look at the scratch. It was still bleeding. 

Toothless looked worriedly at his arm, and Hiccup lowered the bandage, not wanting to concern his dragon. He reached up a hand to pet him on the head.

“I’ll be fine, bud.”

Except his hand didn’t make it to his head. Very suddenly, he couldn’t move his right arm. Hiccup tried the left one, found that he could. That was… strange. And frightening.

_ Oh no.  _ So Hiccup had been right about there being venom from that stinger. 

“Come on, Toothless. Let’s get back to Berk.” He mounted him, only using his left arm because his right was useless, and they took off, rising above the trees. 

  
  


“What kind of dragon was it?” Valka asked Hiccup. Gothi and Astrid were there as well, along with Toothless. Hiccup was sitting in his bed, ordered by Gothi to stay there. She was inspecting the scratch on his arm, frowning.

“I don’t know,” Hiccup replied. “Never seen it before.” He described it to his mother. 

The concerned look in Valka’s eyes deepened, darkened. She stood up, turned away from Hiccup, a hand going to her chin.

“What is it?” Hiccup hurriedly asked. “Do you know what it is?”

“A Deathgripper,” Valka answered. “Hiccup where were you when you found it?”

“Just north of Itchy Armpit,” Hiccup told her. “Toothless and I hadn’t gone for a flight on our own in a long time, so I thought it would be a good idea.”

Valka turned back to him. “And you said it was acting scared?”

“Yes.”

“I know this dragon,” Valka said. “This one specifically. His name is Slaughterdijk. He stayed at the dragon sanctuary for a time, secluded, healing from what appeared to be drugging. I let him stay because he didn’t appear dangerous. He just seemed scared, would give a dragon the occasional scratch and then leave. But then those dragons were never seen again.”

Hiccup swallowed hard. So he apparently wasn’t so lucky to have escaped. Maybe the dragon had meant for him to.

“Do you know what happened to them?” he asked. He tried moving the fingers on his right hand, but they wouldn’t listen to him. He attempted to wiggle his toes, but with no luck. He was slowly being paralyzed from the venom.

“Killed,” Valka answered. “Slaughterdijk came back for them once they were completely paralyzed, could smell their blood.”

“Um… Do you know if the venom wears off?”

Valka shook her head. “No dragon lived long enough. The Bewilderbeast eventually chased him out, but we lost many to him.”

Hiccup didn’t like that story, didn’t like what it meant for him. He was steadily being paralyzed, and this deadly dragon would be coming back for him.

“We have to keep you safe,” Astrid said. She laid her hand on Hiccup’s. It was his left one, so he squeezed it. “If this dragon dares come here, we’ll fight it.”

Valka nodded as Gothi finished bandaging Hiccup’s arm. She looked to him sadly. Apparently there was nothing she could do for the venom, and he would be paralyzed. 

“It’ll be dangerous,” Valka told them. “But we’ll do it. We’ll keep you safe.”

“And what if…” Hiccup felt his throat clogging up with fear. “What if the venom doesn’t wear off?” He couldn’t imagine being paralyzed for the rest of his life.

Astrid laid a hand on his shoulder. “It might, Hiccup,” she told him. “We’ll get to it when we get to it.”

“But-”

“Don’t think about it,” Astrid cut him off, which he figured was good. She was right. They weren’t there yet. He shouldn’t be worrying about that right now. They had the impending attack to worry about.

  
  


Hiccup was taken to the Mead Hall, as it was the most defensible place on the island. His right leg had become paralyzed by that time, so he’d had to be carried, but his mother and Astrid had managed his weight between the two of them. It was embarrassing to be seen in such a way, but he gritted his teeth and dealt with it. There was nothing to be done about it. 

Astrid, Stormfly, and Toothless stood guard with him inside as he lay motionless in the makeshift bed they had made him. Steadily, he was beginning to lose all function of his limbs. Tears welled in his eyes, but he blinked them away. 

_ Don’t worry about it now. Might not be forever. Might not be. _

But what if it was forever? What if he was going to be stuck like this? Gods, he’d be utterly useless, brought down to nothing. Others would have to care for him. He didn’t even want to think about the more humiliating parts like relieving himself and bathing, but it entered his mind anyway. He was going to be the useless, paralyzed, Chief of Berk. Would anyone still love him like that? Would anyone still care? Sometimes, Hiccup still worried that his friends only cared about him for his usefulness, and once it was gone, he wouldn’t have their friendship anymore.

Said friends, however, were standing guard outside the Mead Hall with their dragons, Valka with them because she knew this dragon better than any of them. If it dared to come to Berk, it would have to put up a fight to try to get to him.

There was that too. What if it broke through everyone’s defenses? What if it  _ did  _ get to him? Would it eat him alive because he was paralyzed, and all he would be able to do was scream while his friends’ bodies lay around him?

No, no, he was taking this too far. His friends’ defenses would hold. They would hold. 

But still, tears fell free, trailed down his cheeks. 

Astrid sat down on the floor by him, stroked some hair out of his face. “Hiccup, you’re going to be okay. We’ll protect you.”

“What if it gets the rest of you?” Hiccup asked. “What if it paralyzes you too? W-what if it  _ kills  _ to get to me?”

“It won’t come to that,” Astrid said, just stroking his hair. The action was soothing. “I promise that it won’t.”

  
  


The dragon had come. Hiccup could hear the sounds of battle outside: cries, fire, explosions. Was that what it took to fight off one dragon? Could it really be so dangerous and deadly?

But yes, it was. Valka had said so herself, and the look in her eyes before she’d turned to hide it from Hiccup had been terrible. It was that dangerous.

The doors opened, then closed after Valka and the Dragon Riders with their dragons spilled in. Then they were hurrying to push tables in front of the doors to keep them closed. 

“That won’t hold him for long!” Valka cried.

Hiccup wanted to sit up, stand, do  _ something,  _ but instead he could only watch his friends as they desperately retreated. There were wounds on some of them, that he could see: a burn on Snotlout’s left bicep, a slash across Tuffnut’s jaw, slashes across his mother’s face. They looked the same as the one he’d gotten on his arm, but deeper, meant to hurt and tear. Some of the dragons bore them as well. 

Dread filled up Hiccup’s chest like black liquid, trickled down to his stomach, made it cold and hard to breathe. 

“Guys?” he asked weakly, hoping his voice would be heard over the commotion. It wasn’t, and he had to call out for them again.

“We’ll drive him off, Hiccup,” Valka told him. “When he comes through, he’s not getting to you.”

“But… but what about the rest of you?” They would become paralyzed now too, and if it didn’t wear off… Dear gods, Hiccup couldn’t handle that. That was worse than  _ him  _ being paralyzed forever. The thought of his friends suffering for him… He couldn’t bear it. 

“We’ll be fine, Hiccup.” Valka’s eyes were serious, trying to imbue her words into him.

_ What if you’re not? _

“L-leave me.”

“What?” Fishlegs asked, stopping from pushing a table against the doors. Now all of his friends turned to look at him, stunned.

“Leave me for it,” Hiccup said. “I can’t bear the thought of any of you getting killed for me.”

“Hiccup, we won’t!” Snotlout drew his sword. “We’ll fight!”

Green liquid suddenly burst through the seam in the door, then became alight with flame. The tables did nothing but burn, as did the door. Slaughterdijk barged through into the light of the fire and Hiccup saw his death. He was angry to have his prey be held from him and fought for, foaming at the mouth, eyes slitted, tail lashing. Hiccup felt like he couldn’t breathe. He wanted to move, to run, but nothing on him moved anymore. He was stuck. Paralyzed. Fit for slaughter.

His friends and their dragons instantly jumped into the fray. Hiccup watched helplessly as Toothless, Astrid, and Stormfly did the same, leaving him alone and incapable of doing anything.

_ They’ll protect me. They’ll protect me. _

But at the same time, Hiccup didn’t want them to. He watched as Ruffnut’s armor was torn through and she took a slash to her arm, watched as Fishlegs was stabbed with the stinger in the gut and went down. Green liquid that spouted fire was dashed across the hall, setting the front of it ablaze. There would be no getting out of here now. Not like he could get out of here anyway, but at least his friends and family should be able to. He didn’t want any of them to die for him.

Slaughterdijk suddenly made a run right for Hiccup. Toothless darted after him, jumped in front of Hiccup before the Deathgripper could get to him. Toothless took the stinger in the shoulder, let out a roar, and went for Slaughterdijk’s neck. 

Hiccup didn’t have it in him to tell Toothless not to kill the dragon. He was terrified, heart beating to try to escape his chest, adrenaline pumping hot through his blood to his useless limbs. No, Hiccup could only watch as Toothless took Slaughterdijk by the throat and tore into him. 

Blood sprayed over the two dragons, and the Deathgripper made a horrible, strangled cry. Then he fell with a thud, and Toothless’ teeth were covered in blood.

The hall became silent save for the crackling of fire. His friends and Valka slowly came towards him, sheathing weapons or just dropping them because their fingers were weak or becoming paralyzed. They knelt in front of the dead dragon, its blood pooling around it.

“I’m sorry it had to end this way,” Valka said softly. She reached over and closed the dragon’s eyes, bowed her head, murmured something that Hiccup couldn’t hear, probably a prayer. “But you were going to take my son.”

Toothless snorted, flicked his tail, apparently not sorry at all. Then he turned to Hiccup, looked at him. He smiled, but the sight was just gruesome with the blood staining his teeth. 

Berkians from outside began to throw troughs of water onto the fire, and soon, the hall was no longer burning. They were safe.

  
  


Hiccup didn’t sleep that night, too worried about his friends and their dragons. No one had come out without a scratch. Would this be the end of the Dragon Riders? Would they all be paralyzed together?

Astrid slept by him in their shared bed, exhausted, seemingly not worried. Or, if she was, she hadn’t shown it. The battle had taken much out of her. 

But, come dawn, Hiccup could wiggle his toes. He laughed.

Astrid didn’t stir against him, but opened her eyes. She was no doubt paralyzed just like he had been. Gothi had done as much as she could, patching up everyone’s wounds, applying salves and stitches where they were needed. 

“What is it?” Astrid asked. There was a slight terror in her eyes. She couldn’t move.

“I-I can move my toes,” Hiccup told her, smiling. He was able to move his neck to look down at her. “It’s wearing off!”

Astrid smiled now too, tears glistening in her eyes. So she had been afraid. Very afraid. 

“Hiccup, that’s amazing!” She said it like she wanted to hug him, but she couldn’t. Instead, Hiccup craned his head down and kissed her. They would all be alright.

  
  


Come afternoon, Hiccup was gathered with Valka and the Dragon Riders in the ruined Mead Hall. Repairs were being done on the doors, but they sat away from all the noise. Everyone looked battered, but very much alive, and very much able to move. 

“Thank you,” Hiccup said to all of them. “I’d be dead without any of you.” He rubbed Toothless on the head, pressed his nose to his. “And especially you, bud.” The Deathgripper’s body was gone, burned on a boat by Hiccup that morning. He’d done it with just Toothless. (Being a dragon and all, the venom had worn off faster for him.) It felt right that way. Despite everything that had happened, he’d needed to give the dragon a proper send off. 

“Hiccup, you’re crazy,” Tuffnut said.

“Crazy?”

“For telling us to leave,” Ruffnut explained. “We’d never leave you.”

“Yeah,” Fishlegs said. “Never.”

Hiccup felt tears welling in his eyes, emotion bursting in his chest. He looked to all of his friends, and the giant group hug that followed was full of tears and love. 


End file.
